The Biggest Problems With A Zero TBR Challenge 

Thank you for this! I’m currently doing a tbr zero challenge and felt sooo guilty after my birthday month 🫠 such a great idea to “pause” the challenge during holiday seasons

99% of my book buying comes from a local library book sales they have throughout the year. They're also the ones I give my unhauls to. I don't think they get rid of unsold books when it's time to close up for the year (winter) but now I have to ask!

I was burned out from reading for a while, but I’m slowly finding my way back to it. My tbr sits at around 100 books currently. I have gotten to the habit of reading every book I buy immediately when I buy it, but I still have quite a backlog. My most important rule is that I need to read every book I buy immediately when I buy it, if I don’t want to read it now, I should not want to buy it now. I have bought so many classics second hand that still sit unread on my shelves, because it’s a book you should read at one point, though I do regularly read classics. However at the moment I seem to only want to read sci-fi and fantasy, so it’s a good thing I have many to choose from. For me I won’t ever run out of books I want to read. I have a really good library close by with a nice selection so technically I don’t need to own as many books as I do because the library has them. Regarding sustainability, the most sustainable thing is to not buy anything. So that’s one huge pro with a zero tbr challenge, but what no one talks about is that the second most sustainable thing is that when we want to buy a book we buy it used if possible. The reason thrift stores are overflowing is because we keep adding new things into circulation at a much faster rate than they break down. I have bought a few books new this year, but the vast majority of my books are used. I actually grew bored of reading challenges after a year or two of being obsessed with them. I guess they contributed to my reading burnout, I felt there was always the pressure to read more and more all the time. I try to follow my moods now and not force myself to read something for the sake of a prompt or challenge. It’s very freeing. I still track my read books in StoryGraph, but I don’t keep a tbr. The books I have are the ones I own and if I see something I want I can buy it if I will read it immediately, same goes for library books. I allow myself library books so I can follow whims, but only one at a time.

I usually save up my unhauled books till i have a little pile and then my friend and i swap unhauled books, then we sort out the books we no longer want and donate those either to a free little library or a second hand shop. But it gives us both a chance first to look at the books we are getting rid of and checking if the other wants it

Completely off topic, but your neclace is very nice and suits you.

Reading and buying are definitely too things and for big book buyers it is so hard. You need sticky notes around the house, saying no no no. I like your plan of attack, down 2 before you get more. However, if someone gives you one it should not count. I love free books.

Thanks so much for this! I recently started my zero TBR challenge and I’m currently reading all my book box books, but after that I want to do themed challenges and that’s such a good point about running out of books that fit challenges! I think I’ll have to reverse engineer it and look at what categories my books fit into.